Jaded Nook
by And My Bird Can Sing
Summary: Jack Sparrow is missing something in his life. Little did he know that his life's uncertainties would lead him to a village that would change his life. Lots of fun and, better yet, NO MARY-SUES!!! Chapter 13 up!!!
1. Random Urges

Jack Sparrow, captain of the Black Pearl, woke up and sat straight up in his bed as he always did when he awoke. Under the ship where he normally slept was musty and smelled of mildew, but if he closed his eyes and breathed in, he could smell the salt of the sea air, leaking through the cracks of the boards above him. There was nothing to ease his aching head like the mist from the ocean.  
  
Though he knew well that it was not his time to arise, he did so anyway. It was all that could ever take his mind off the subtle pleasures and burdens of a pirate's life. Not unusual was this behavior; this feeling that perhaps there was something more or maybe even less than what he had been pursuing in his life for so long, and that was freedom.  
  
His eyes were tired and he still felt weary, but something told him he would sleep no more that night. Grudgingly, he reached over to the table next to him and took a swig from the bottle that sat on top of it. He breathed out after setting the bottle back on the table and the thick, pungent scent of rum filled his quarters. As much as he loved the smell, he didn't wish to stay cooped up. He opened the door above him and crawled out into the brisk breeze that was whipping past him.  
  
He staggered to the bow of the ship and leaned over the side, peering into the black night, lit only by the faintly glowing crescent moon and an occasional star. It was mid-winter and the air was icy as it bit at his face. His breaths were deep and, when he exhaled, he could see a soft fog coming out of his mouth. He turned his back to the ocean and, leaning up against the boat, he could see the black sails whipping back and forth. He noticed, not for the first time, the shoddy repairs his crew had made to them, patches of their old clothing stitched into the cloth that forced the old ship to press onward, willed only by the strength of the wind and of its crew.  
  
Looking at them forced a grin to spread across his face every time, and he still couldn't figure out why. Perhaps it was that, despite the difficulties he'd had in previous encounters, he had still managed to come back to his ship and return it to sailing ability. But no, that wasn't it. The grin faded from his face as he turned, yet another time, back to the ocean. He watched the moon sink slowly down past the horizon to take its repose on the other side of the Earth.  
  
He closed his eyes, not from fatigue, but from the thought that one more night had slipped through his fingers like water through a sieve, and there was nothing he could do but hope the day did the same. He didn't know why, but there was something calming, almost melodious, about the solitude that the night left him with. Not only did it give him time to think, but it gave him time to be alone. He took joy in the company of his crew, in the delight they found from being ordered around by him, but he knew that once the sun went down, he wouldn't be troubled by the hustle and bustle of his life. That, for some reason, made him feel more at home on the ocean than ever.  
  
Almost as the sun rose, he could feel its warmth wash over him. Most of the time, he would watch the sun rise. Even pirates take pleasure in the beauty of the sunrises, and they never get old when you're sailing on the ocean. Instead of watching one sun, it's as though you're watching two, for the colors are reflected in the water and can give off almost twice as much light and charm as one sunrise. This morning, however, the captain decided to lay dormant, his thoughts still with the moon that had long since traveled to the other side of the Earth.  
  
He heard various noises come from below deck and swallowed, opening his eyes and realizing that his crew must be getting up at last. He didn't want them to. He didn't have the time he wanted with the night, and the day certainly wasn't going to spoil it. He decided to do something no other captain would have dared.  
  
Several of his crew members had hopped out of their quarters and started working, all the while eyeing Jack apprehensively as he still faced out toward the ocean, not bothering to tell them what to do. Commotion had just started to arouse itself on the massive ship when Jack knew that, for once, his weary mind could take no noise.  
  
He shut his eyes and thought as his crew began to grow louder. His voice undeniably had the potential to be sweet and charismatic, but it was slurred slightly with the apparent presence of alcohol that so clearly affected his mind. Forcing it to be loud and obvious, he spoke. "Go back to your quarters, you have the day off!"  
  
The clamor immediately ceased and Jack was certain that he could almost feel the eyes of his crew upon him.  
  
"Cap'n, don't you wish to sail today-"  
  
"Did you not hear my orders!" barked Jack. "Leave the anchor where it is, and go back to bed..." His voice faded into an incoherent mumble that the rest of them could not comprehend. However, none of them dared question their currently formidable captain.  
  
One by one, or two by two, Jack did not bother to find out which, they slunk back to their quarters and he heard nary a sound for several hours. He knew his crew could not stay silent for any time longer than eleven in the morning. They would need to release their energy at that point. However, until then, Jack had the deck to himself, and he was determined to make the best of it.  
  
Suddenly, an unprecedented desire swept over him, like the ocean over a rowboat in a storm. He took his hat, boots, belt, and shirt off and climbed up onto the side of the boat. Without a moment's hesitation, he dove gracefully into the depths of the icy water, not caring if he froze to death.  
  
He floated on his back for at least half an hour, his eyes shut, his body numb from the cold, and his mind wandering ceaselessly, thoughts racing in and out of it interminably, causing his head to hurt even more than it had before. He opened his eyes and saw to the East there was a small island there that he had not noticed the previous night.  
  
He suddenly had a very strong longing to swim as fast as he could over to the island, and he couldn't figure this out. A month or two ago, he never would have chosen land over sea, under any circumstances. What was wrong with him? How long had he fought for the possession of his ship only to have a craving for land again?  
  
He decided against it; the company of the ocean was all he would need for the moment. He breathed out deeply again and noticed that one of his crew had already risen. How could this be? It was only nine o'clock.  
  
"Oy!" Jack yelled up at the man. "Don't you appreciate a little extra sleep when it's given to you?"  
  
The man shrugged and said, "It isn't that at all, Cap'n, I just feel like I can't stay cooped up down there in me quarters for much longer without goin' mad."  
  
Jack closed his eyes and sighed. He couldn't ignore the needs of his crew just to meet his own. "Very well, go on and tell the rest of them they're permitted to come up on deck now-"  
  
"Thank you, Cap'n-!"  
  
"But tell them no work!" interrupted Jack testily. "I want some peace and quiet on this ruddy ship for once! Savvy?"  
  
"Aye, Captain." He nodded.  
  
Soon enough, Jack heard people climbing out of their quarters silently as they could and standing around in random places on the deck. He heard whispers emit from the lot of them, and of course, there were things that he caught from their conversations, such as, "...acting strange..." and "...wonder what's wrong...?"  
  
Finally, when he could take no more, he looked over at the island for a final time and climbed haphazardly back onto the deck of the ship.  
  
"All right, all right, quiet down!" for the whispers had now spread across the ship and resulted in a dull roar. All was silent again as Jack continued. "I didn't think it was too much to ask of my crew to spend a day in solitude, but apparently, you wild animals are too restless and immature for that, so I'll tell you what we're gonna do!"  
  
The crew awaited in anticipation.  
  
"You see that island over there?" the captain pointed toward it and didn't bother waiting for a response. "We're going to go there, dock our ship in that port, and we'll have the whole week off!"  
  
His crew looked horrified at the prospect of no work for a week, but nonetheless, they did as he told them.  
  
He ambled on back toward the bow of the Black Pearl so he could instruct his crew and steer the ship simultaneously.  
  
All went according to plan and, while his men were docking his ship, he decided he could stand no more of the noise, so he dove into the water and swam the rest of the way to the small island. The moment he set foot on it, there was no doubt in his mind that the thoughts of uncertainty about his life would end here.  
  
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~ 


	2. A Mob of Lovesick Teenagers

Many eyes turned upon the oddly alluring captain as he made his way through the peaceful town, especially those of young girls.  
  
It was true, he was not the type of person you could ignore, unusual as he was. His face was undeniably handsome, though the gold teeth, goatee, mustache, and heavy eyeliner certainly did a good job of convincing some of the more conservative women otherwise. Along with this was his unruly hair, which was long and braided, covered by a red bandanna and a hat. His clothes were casual pirate wear and, accompanied by various accouterments, he turned out to be quite charming to young, lonely women.  
  
But, in this town, the lonely women weren't the only ones gazing wistfully into his deep brown eyes. In fact, most all of the young women were looking at him as though they would like nothing more than to be kidnapped by this pirate.  
  
He had hardly been in the small village half an hour when three girls, no older than seventeen, giggling insanely, ran up to him.  
  
"Are you a real pirate?" asked a cute blond one.  
  
He eyed her meticulously in almost sort of a confused, appraising sort of way. "Em... Yes, believe it or not... Surprised you never heard of me, lass." A thin smile found its way upon his lips.  
  
They giggled even harder now. "And who are you, pray tell?"  
  
"Why, I'm Captain Jack Sparrow!" he said as he pulled up the sleeve of his shirt to show them the tattoo on his arm.  
  
There was a sharp intake of breath from the girls and they all looked at each other in a meaningful sort of way. Jack couldn't help but smile a second time as he saw their awed faces.  
  
"We've heard stories-tales, more like-of how you were marooned on an island with nothing but a pistol and the clothes on your back..." A girl with brown hair and freckles looked into his eyes seriously as she spoke as though he were a ghost rumored to have been wandering the village for years.  
  
"Well, let me tell you, those are no more than rumors. I've never been marooned on an island and I've always been captain of the Black Pearl." He blurted these words out before thinking of the consequences, as he so often did.  
  
"The Black Pearl! You-you're the captain of the Black Pearl!" The blond girl asked, her voice quaking. "You're the evil captain!" Her eyes widened.  
  
"No, now, I want you to listen to me on this one!" covered Jack. "All this nonsense about me bein' all evil...? Those are rumors too, and I don't want anyone tellin' you otherwise, savvy?"  
  
"But-but you just said that you were the captain of-"  
  
"Listen..." He lowered his voice to a soft whisper, so it was quiet and soothing. He brushed her cheek with his hand gently and continued. "Do I really seem like the type of pirate to pillage towns and burn villages, or even to steal gold?" He looked into her eyes, not really hoping for anything except agreement. "Hmm?"  
  
She shook her head slowly, gazing deeply into his abyssal eyes. "Not at all..."  
  
The other two girls were looking desirously at Jack with hungry eyes, but he ignored them. He pulled slowly away from the blond girl who laughed nervously. He smiled slightly, and he was almost sure he could feel the breeze from the chills that were sent running up and down their spines. "That's a good girl." He patted her on the back, looking much like a stable boy taking care of horses, as he made his way past them into a nearby bar.  
  
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~ 


	3. Of Rum and Unexpected Friendships

He entered and couldn't help noticing that its occupants were solely what seemed to be drunken men, ages ranging probably from about fifty to eighty. He looked at them apprehensively, but they didn't look back. The only eyes that rested upon him were those of the young, female bartender.  
  
Jack walked over to her. She sat on a stool, leaning against the wall, looking somewhat jaded. "Can I help you?" She asked in a bored sort of drawl.  
  
The grizzled captain stopped dead in his tracks, for when she spoke, he felt an unnamed emotion touch him momentarily before it fleeted swiftly from his mind. He shook it off and said, "Yes, what island is this, and do you have any rum?"  
  
She hopped off the edge of the stool as Jack sat down at the bar. "Well," she began as she poured the rum out of a bottle and into a mug, "the island has no name, dull place that it is, but our village obtains, for all we know, its only inhabitants, and the village's name is Jaded Nook- quite appropriate, if you ask me." She was saying all of this very fast as though she hadn't had anyone to talk to, or at least anyone that would really listen, for days. She shoved the mug toward him and smiled a little as she said, "So, Captain, what brings you to our remote town?"  
  
He looked at her and grinned. "Fate, I suppose."  
  
"Fate, huh?" she asked, leaning on the bar table. For the first time since he had entered the bar, Jack got a good look at the girl. She had long, dark hair that reached down past her shoulders and made her even darker eyes more obvious. She was wearing a casual sort of dress-something a servant might wear, even. It was a dark blue dress with small white flowers embroidered into it. It suited her, Jack thought, as he gazed upon her soft-featured face.  
  
She continued. "I've never believed in fate myself. I mean, sure, I believe there's something that gets us from point "A" to point "B", but I don't think it's really taking us to one place specifically. In other words, we're pretty much on our own as far as our decisions are concerned."  
  
"Well, as far as we're all concerned, we're on our own, but the question is-are we all just too proud to admit that we're not?" He took a large swig of his rum and wiped his mouth on his sleeve.  
  
The bartender looked at him. "Maybe..." She seemed to be thinking of something to argue with in his last statement. "But... If that's true, what's to keep us from saying that there's no God?"  
  
"Oh, for the love o'-Look, we've just taken a perfectly decent conversation and turned it into religious discussion."  
  
"Hey, nobody forced you to argue!" She smiled.  
  
Jack laughed, feeling happy with someone's company for the first time in what had quite possibly been weeks.  
  
"So you're Captain Jack Sparrow..." she said to herself, bemused.  
  
"That I am." He answered smiling, then taking another large drink of rum.  
  
"Not at all what I expected." She added with a small laugh.  
  
He glanced at her sharply. "What exactly were you expecting?"  
  
She shrugged. "Oh, I don't know, really. Just someone a little more... Practical, I guess."  
  
"Practical! Ha!" Jack laughed. "I don't live for practicality, lass, I live for adventure-freedom! That's what piracy's all about, savvy?"  
  
She smiled. "I suppose so..."  
  
"So, you obviously know who I am, but... Who are you?" He smiled hopefully.  
  
She sighed. "My name is Jessica."  
  
"Do I get a last name?" He raised an eyebrow, grinning from ear to ear.  
  
"No." she answered flatly.  
  
The grin vanished from his face immediately. "Do I at least get a reason?"  
  
"You shouldn't need one." She smiled. "You honestly expect me to give my last name out to a notorious pirate?"  
  
He smiled at her. "Fine I'll be content with Jessica for now."  
  
She looked at him for a moment, then said, "You know, we don't usually see pirates around here."  
  
He laughed a little and said, "I gathered that..."  
  
"What does that mean?" She asked, sounding somewhat offended.  
  
"If you'd seen my little teenage girl mob, you'd understand."  
  
"Oh, them?" she laughed. "Yeah, they're like sharks once they've lived here for about a year. They smell fresh meat and they're all over it within minutes."  
  
He smiled. "Is that a fact..." He downed the rest of his drink and said, "Well, Jessica-"  
  
"Jessi," she corrected him. "just call me Jessi."  
  
"Okay, then, Jessi, I think I'll take my business elsewhere. Maybe fate has dealt me a winning hand, savvy?"  
  
She smiled. "Okay, well, it was nice to meet you."  
  
He nodded to her and smiled. Just before walking out, he stopped and said, "I never paid you for the rum-"  
  
"Don't worry about it." she cut him off, waving her hand in dismissal. "I get guys in here all the time who try to walk out without paying at all. It's enough payment just to know that you remembered."  
  
"Well, of course I remembered! Captain Jack Sparrow never forgets a pretty girl." He tipped his hat and strode out of the bar, whistling to himself.  
  
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~ 


	4. A Pompous Little Town

Jack walked through the quaint little town, and eyes followed him every step of the way. Before long, he started to get uncomfortable and began to apprehensively eye those who chose to look at him oddly.  
  
Without looking where he was going, he ran into someone. "Oh, excuse me-"  
  
"I need to see your license."  
  
Jack looked at the man he had bumped into. It was clearly the authority in the town-he looked to be a sheriff of some sort. He was about an inch taller than Jack and also about ten years younger. He was clean-cut- a police hat on and a very prim looking uniform.  
  
"Excuse me?" asked Jack, a bit confused.  
  
"I need to see a license for your, um..." the police officer's lip curled. "Your ship..."  
  
"Oh..." Jack laughed a little. "Didn't know I needed a license-"  
  
"Well, you do, so I'm afraid until you've gotten one, you can't dock your ship in our harbor."  
  
Jack cleared his throat a little. "Yes, um... I don't believe I ever caught your name."  
  
The man flipped out his badge and held it about an inch from Jack's face.  
  
Jack pulled his face back a little so he could read it. "Sheriff Arthur Rogers..." He nodded a little. "That's interesting..."  
  
"Yes," began Sheriff Rogers, "it is interesting. Interesting that you should need a license!"  
  
Jack thought for a moment. "Now wait a minute... Are you saying it's interesting that I should have a license because I just said, 'that's interesting' and you were trying to respond with something witty? Because I don't really understand your response, Sheriff, you'll have to excuse me, but you should have said something more along the lines of-"  
  
"I was saying it was interesting that you should need a license to dock your boat in our harbor because it is!"  
  
"It really isn't too interesting in my opinion, all this law stuff, it's just a way of pushing people around, if you ask me-"  
  
"Well, I'm not asking you!" said the sheriff testily. His voice had risen and the surrounding citizens were staring at him. "I just want to know that you have a license!"  
  
"And the fact of the matter is that I don't." Jack smiled. "So what we have ourselves dealing with now is confrontation. You say I have to have a license to dock my ship in your harbor, whereas I'm saying that all the other harbors I've docked my boat in have permitted me to do so, piracy or no piracy. It seems to me that you're doing this to act tough. But, Sheriff Arthur Rogers, if I may say so, you're coming off as nothing more than a well-to-do, dogmatic oaf."  
  
The man's mouth fell open as Jack said all this. "Well, you may not say so! You've just broken a number of laws and I'm afraid that's going to result in your arrest! Now, if you'll come with me-"  
  
"If I'll come with you... Well, what if I won't come with you?"  
  
"You have no option."  
  
"It seems to me it's a bit too late for that, you've already given me the option, savvy?"  
  
"No I haven't! Now, in the name of the law, I order you to accompany me to the nearest prison!"  
  
"In the name of the law, eh? Well, the law and I've never really gotten along... I don't listen to the law and, generally, the bloody law is too stubborn to listen to me. So, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll take my leave!"  
  
That much said, he broke off into a run and raced back into the bar, locking the door tightly behind him. He glanced at Jessi, who looked oddly at him.  
  
"Hello, Jessi." He grinned for a moment, then looked frantically out the window. He looked back at her. "Is there a back door out of here?"  
  
"Maybe..." She said shrewdly. "In trouble already, are we?"  
  
"Maybe..." He repeated. He smiled and walked over to the bar table where she was standing. "You don't seem too concerned for me." He frowned jokingly. "And I thought I had made a friend."  
  
"Nobody's said that you haven't." objected Jessi. "So, did Sheriff Rogers catch you with no license?"  
  
"Yeah, the dirty scoundrel just comes up to me and--" He stopped and looked at her oddly. "Hang on, now... How did you know?"  
  
She shrugged. "Most pirates don't have licenses to dock their boats in uncharted harbors because most ports don't require one. Our town, however, has pretty much the strictest authority you can find anywhere in the Caribbean."  
  
Jack's mouth gaped open. "Why didn't you tell me this? You were just planning on letting me get caught by Sheriff Arthur What's-his-name?"  
  
"No... I figured it was fate." She smiled.  
  
Surprising both himself and Jessi, he smiled in return. "So you do indeed have a way out of here?"  
  
She waved her hand. "Yeah, but you won't need it."  
  
"Why's that?"  
  
"The town and the island are both too small for you to manage much of an escape on."  
  
"Watch me." grinned Jack.  
  
"I'm watching, Captain." She smirked a little.  
  
"Well, I could use a little help."  
  
"Help!" she laughed. "Help with what? Help with fate?" She finished with a skeptical, sarcastic note in her voice.  
  
"Fine!" He answered. "Fine then, tell me, just how long do I have to stay in jail for not having a license?"  
  
"No longer than two months."  
  
"Okay then, I'll tell you what. I'll give myself up, and after two months, I'll come back and tell you what fate has done with me. I will prove to you that this island has something in store for me, whether it be my death or the missing link to happiness I've been searching for. Savvy?"  
  
She smiled. "Savvy. For fate, then."  
  
He stopped smiling and tipped his hat. "See you in two months." With that, he walked out of the bar. Jessi could actually see him being put under arrest and led off to the nearby jail.  
  
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~ 


	5. An Altogether Unpleasant Experience

And so it was that Captain Jack Sparrow found himself lying on his back in a prison cell by his miserable self. It was the same as all the rest-dark and somewhat eerie, with pungent scents meandering unpleasantly in the air. There was a small window a few cells down from Jack which let in small amounts of clean air at various times. Once the cool, clear air managed its way in, however, it quickly mingled with the damp, hot air that was inside the prison and therefore provided no sustenance for the inmates.  
  
This was the worst time he'd had in prison in years. Sure, it was never fun, but there were usually other inmates, if not guards, to talk to, outsmart, and annoy. However, on this occasion, there was not, from what he could tell, another living soul in the entire prison.  
  
He heaved a large sigh and rolled over onto his stomach, the concrete cool against his tired body, and his head rested gently on his hands. What he would have given for this time to himself the previous day! And now he wished nothing more than to have a lively conversation with his crew. He'd have even settled for a heated argument with his old friend, William Turner. No, Will was not a bad person to talk with in the least. He just had a way about him that made you want to hit him really hard whenever he did something stupid. That was, at least how Jack felt.  
  
Without even realizing it, Jack's thoughts gradually wandered back to Jessi. Finally aware of what he was thinking, a smile cleverly found its way across his lips. "There's something about her," Jack thought to himself as he smiled coyly, "that's positively different from anyone I've ever met..." This thought stayed with him for a while, right up until the point where he heard a door swing open and then close rather noisily.  
  
"-I haven't even done anything wrong!" A woman's voice cut through the silence like a knife. "You can't do this!"  
  
A rather fiery young woman was being restrained by a guard and led into the cell next to Jack.  
  
"Anamaria!" A grin spread across Jack's face as he laid eyes upon the pretty woman. She had dark skin and even darker hair, matching her eyes perfectly.  
  
"Jack!" she reached through the bars as Jack scrambled up to grab her hand.  
  
"Annie, love, what are you doing here? This certainly isn't a place for a lady of the Black Pearl." He flashed her a quick grin.  
  
"I was wondering that myself!" she answered, a fire in her eyes Jack had not seen for quite a while. "There I was, minding my own business, when some daft, inflated moron comes up to me and tells me I need a bloody license for me to dock the Pearl, and then says I have to go to prison for not having one!"  
  
Jack gaped at her. "The same thing happened to me, you know, that's why I'm in here!"  
  
"No, Jack, the reason we're in here is you! You're the man who ordered us to dock the Pearl in this harbor-"  
  
"I'm also the man who's human. Perfect as I may seem, darling, I do indeed make mistakes, and there was no reason I should have made the assumption that we needed a license to dock our ruddy boat!"  
  
She glared at him for a moment. "What are we going to do, then?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I mean, they'll eventually round up the rest of the crew and throw them in here as well. Once they've locked us all away, what will they do with the Pearl?"  
  
Jack hadn't thought about this. "You don't think they'd... Destroy it, or anything, do you?" He asked her worriedly.  
  
"I don't know what to think about this Godforsaken place..."  
  
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~  
  
Day after day passed and, surprisingly enough, not one more of Jack's crew was thrown in jail. However, a week after being in there, Jack went through fierce withdrawal from the alcohol that his system had become so accustomed to.  
  
His features sharpened from hunger and his incessant vomiting was interrupted only by his cries of excruciating pain and restless slumber. On the bleak upside, with the company and sympathy of Anamaria, Jack's weary mind was tricked into believing that the two months spent there was no more than a couple of weeks.  
  
And even though it seemed as though he would die, he stayed strong and did indeed make it through the two months alive.  
  
And so he staggered out of the prison, one arm around a shaken Anamaria, the other on his spinning head, and made his way toward the bar. He didn't care if he'd made it through prison alive, he knew he'd die if he didn't have some form of alcohol.  
  
After ambling into the dimly lit, strong-smelling bar, he took a seat. Fortunately, he was the only person in there.  
  
"You go on, Annie, round up the crew..." He croaked to the woman beside him, who was rubbing his shoulder soothingly.  
  
"But... Jack, will you be all right?" She asked, genuinely concerned.  
  
"I'll be fine, love, now go on, I'll find you in a few days' time if you don't find me first."  
  
She nodded, accepting his order. "Aye, Captain..." She started toward the door, then stopped abruptly before walking out and said, "Jack, please be careful..." Her eyes had well up with tears of concern and her generally strong voice quaked worriedly.  
  
"Don't worry, Annie, I will be...." He smiled weakly.  
  
She nodded a second time, looking slightly more at ease, and then walked out. Without hesitation, Jack laid his aching head down on the table and closed his eyes. "Jessi!"  
  
She appeared behind the bar. "Oh God, Jack!" She raced over to him. "What happened? You look awful!"  
  
He smiled up at her a little and said, "You look lovely too, darling, now can you bring me a rum before I drop dead on your floor?"  
  
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~ 


	6. Of Unnecessary Apologies and Forced Conf...

"Jack, I'm so sorry!" A very distraught Jessi apologized through tears. "This is all my fault, if I hadn't been so stubborn-"  
  
"Jessi, darling, it's not all that bad, really! I mean, yes, I've wasted a couple months of my life, and I've lost a few pounds, not to mention my acquisition of a rather arduous little headache. But I got what fate had in store for me, right? I mean, that's all I could possibly receive with a life of piracy!"  
  
She put her head in her hands and Jack watched as tears rolled down her cheeks. "Well, when you say it like that... But Jack, I almost got you killed!"  
  
He waved his hand at her nonchalantly as though it were no big deal. "That can be overlooked quite easily. If I had a shilling for every time I'd almost gotten myself killed, I could buy a brand new ship and a crew to go with it." He paused. "Actually, that's not a bad idea..."  
  
"Can't you yell at me or something?" asked Jessi angrily through tears.  
  
Jack gave her a confused look. "Why should I yell when I'm not angry?"  
  
She shook her head. "It would keep me from feeling so guilty. I mean, the whole thing was my fault, I'm completely responsible for your near- death experience."  
  
He looked at her as she sniffed a little. "You really are a good person, aren't you?"  
  
She shook her head and shrugged. "I've always tried to be. Now I'm not so sure about what kind of person I am."  
  
Jack looked at her. The unnamed emotion he'd felt when she'd first spoken to him was touching him once more. But this time, rather than staying for a split second and then fleeting hurriedly, the feeling churned powerfully in his stomach. He knew it wasn't just the rum that was making him feel light-headed and giddy. And, at the same time, this recurring emotion left him with a quaint feeling of emptiness. He didn't know what it was, and yet he felt that, simultaneously, he really did.  
  
He swallowed nervously and reached for her hand.  
  
Coincidentally, without knowing what she was depriving him of, Jessi moved her hand at that very same moment and said, her voice quaking a little, "I know you're not angry with me, Jack, but... I'm sorry."  
  
Jack nodded, trying to smile. "Well, then... If it makes you feel any better by receiving what was already yours... You have my forgiveness."  
  
She smiled and got up from her seat, walking gracefully back over to the bar. As he watched her walk away, Jack had never felt so alone.  
  
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~  
  
"They took it!"  
  
"What! They can't have taken it, I'm the Captain!  
  
"What's to keep them from appointing a new Captain? I'll bet that scoundrel, Gibbs, did it..." Anamaria was seething with anger. "But you know, you can't blame them for doing it, right? I'd have done the same thing!"  
  
Jack swore angrily. "But it's my bloody ship, they can't just take it!"  
  
"Jack, they can and they did! Accept it, okay? Had you not landed us on this stupid island in the first place, we'd still be on the Pearl and you'd still be Captain!"  
  
Jack kicked a nearby statue angrily. "I still am the Captain!"  
  
"Fine then, Captain, what are your orders? Just how do you suggest we go about getting the Pearl back?"  
  
Jack thought for a moment. "I'll tell you what we're going to do. We're going to commandeer that ship over there." He pointed. "Then we're going to go after the Pearl and our cheating, lying crew."  
  
"And what happens if we fail, huh? What do we do then?"  
  
"Then we spend no more than six months in prison and try it again-"  
  
"Try it again, only with guards and guns! And have you forgotten just how bad it was for you in that prison, Jack? You would die."  
  
"I made it out alive last time, I can do it again-"  
  
"Well, I don't think I could stand to see you go through something like that again. So if you're going to commandeer that ship, you're doing it by yourself."  
  
"You're being a bloody coward, Anamaria!" He yelled at her, his face no more than two inches from hers. "What happened to the woman who used to be able to do anything?" Jack stopped yelling when he realized a tear rolling slowly down her cheek. "Annie, don't cry... But honestly, what happened to her? She's gone now because she's afraid of a bloody jail cell..."  
  
"No, Jack..." She whispered. "She just fell in love..." She turned her face, then walked briskly away from him, muffled sobs emitting from her solemn figure as she left.  
  
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~ 


	7. A New Plan

"And so then she tells me that she's fallen in love!" Jack was exuberantly reproducing an exact account of his quarrel with Anamaria to Jessi.  
As he said this, Jessi smiled. "So that's it then?"  
Jack shrugged and took a swig of rum.  
"I mean... Do you love her back?" She inquired anxiously.  
Jack merely shrugged a second time.  
"You're giving me a complete explanation of this woman confessing her love for you and all you can do is shrug?"  
He shrugged yet another time. "Looks that way, doesn't it?" He grinned.  
She laughed and said, "This is quite possibly the worst thing I've ever heard of."  
"What are you talking about? I said nothing that prompted that kind of a response!"  
At this, Jessi laughed even harder. "From what I heard, you prompted her to give you a reason for her behavior. And if that was it, then why should she lie to you?"  
"If for no other reason, so I wouldn't feel awkward around her!" He sighed. "Of course, I may not see her anymore now that the Pearl is gone..."  
"Yeah, what do you plan on doing about that?"  
He looked at her as he thought. "I'll tell you, but you can't, under any circumstances, tell the cops. Savvy?"  
"Savvy." She smiled as she affirmed his request.  
He sighed. "Well, I certainly can't commandeer that ship alone, and if Annie won't help me, I can only think of one person who will."  
"Who's that?" she asked.  
"Will Turner." He'd told her of his adventures with Will.  
"Do you think he'll help you?"  
"He has to."  
"Why, because you helped him?"  
"No, because he's got piracy running through his veins. I've never met a pirate who could turn down adventure."  
"Well... He's got to get over here somehow. Why don't you just use the ship he comes on?"  
"Because, my dear, that ship is bound to have other passengers. It would take too long to threaten them all off, and I don't want to kill anyone unless I have to. Besides, I'd bet my life this ship here is faster than whatever Will's going to be coming on."  
"So, once you get the ship, do you think Anamaria will go with you?"  
"Annie's as much of a pirate as I am! Of course she'll come!" He grinned confidently and downed the rest of his rum. He threw a shilling on the counter and said, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I believe I have a letter to write."  
  
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~ 


	8. Friends Again

After checking into an inn and buying paper and a quill, he began to write a letter to Will. It spoke concisely of his plan and went a little something like this:  
  
~Will~  
Need your help to commandeer a ship and find the Pearl. Look for me as soon as possible in Jaded Nook.  
  
~Jack~  
  
"That should give him enough", thought Jack, "to make him hungry for adventure." However, as he finished, he secretly hoped Will would take a while to get to Jaded Nook. This way, he could get to know Jessi a little better...  
  
Shaking this peculiar thought from his mind, he folded the letter,-or note, rather-put it in an envelope, closed it with a seal, and addressed it.  
  
"God speed, mate." He said to the letter. With that, he took it to the post office and went in pursuit of Anamaria.  
  
He found her residing in the same inn. When he was informed of her precise whereabouts, he walked over to it (it was but a few doors away from his own room) and knocked gently on the door.  
  
"Who's there!" Came a sharp reply.  
  
"Annie, it's me, love." He answered.  
  
Almost immediately, the door swung open and a rather weary Anamaria stood before him.  
  
He smiled weakly for a moment. "Annie, I-"  
  
"Jack, I'm so sorry!" She interrupted him, tears welling up in her eyes.  
  
He eyed her awkwardly. "Why?"  
  
"I-I didn't mean to leave you to commandeer that ship alone. I mean, at the time, I was just so frustrated, and I couldn't think of anything worse than seeing you in prison again." Tears were now streaming down her cheeks.  
  
"Annie, it's no big deal, honestly!" He said earnestly. "It was a stpid suggestion of mine anyway."  
  
"So you're not going to do it?"  
  
"Of course I am!" He laughed. "But I still want you to come with me, regardless of whether you help me commandeer the thing or not!" He looked into her eyes, seeking acceptance.  
  
She laughed sarcastically. "You idiot..."  
  
"Fine then-"  
  
"Of course I'm coming with you. You think I'm going to let old Gibbs pull one over on us?" She smiled.  
  
"I should hope not, lass!" grinned Jack. "So you helping me commandeer that ship or not?" He looked deeply into her dark brown eyes.  
  
"By the look on your face, it doesn't seem as though I have a choice." She grinned.  
  
He laughed. "Oh and, by the way, I decided to invite our old friend Will."  
  
She rolled her eyes. "I can't figure it out, but there's something about him that makes me want to hit him really hard whenever he does something stupid."  
  
Jack nodded. "Yeah, me too."  
  
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~ 


	9. An Innovative Proposition

Jack walked into the bar the next day after sleeping until noon- something he hadn't done for months. As soon as he opened the door, Jessi hopped off the edge of her stool and began to pour some rum into a rather large mug.  
  
He smiled. "Am I that predictable?"  
  
"Not predictable." she answered. "Just consistent." She smiled as she pushed the mug toward him and walked around the counter to take a seat next to him.  
  
Jack sighed as she looked at him.  
  
"So..." she started, smiling.  
  
He narrowed his gaze on her suspiciously. "So what?"  
  
"Don't give me that." She laughed. "You only come in here when there's something to talk about."  
  
"Aye, Jessi, you know me too well." he laughed. "I couldn't stand it any longer, I tracked Anamaria down."  
  
"And...?" prompted Jessi.  
  
He avoided her eyes and smiled a little. "I got her to help me with the ship."  
  
"So she forgave you, huh?"  
  
"Forgave me? She practically begged me to have mercy on her!"  
  
Jessi gaped at him. "And you just let her?"  
  
"Well, what was I supposed to do?"  
  
"Well, for starters, you weren't supposed to accept her apology!"  
  
"What!" yelled Jack. "Okay, I'm sitting here talking to the woman who got mad at me for not yelling at her, and now she doesn't want me to do the same in another identical situation?"  
  
"This is not the same situation! It's completely different and you know it!"  
  
"Well, obviously I don't, Jess, because I did something that was, apparently, completely wrong! Maybe I should just take everything you tell me with a grain of salt! Is that what you're telling me, Jessica?"  
  
"I didn't say that..." said Jessi, lowering her voice. The other few men in the bar were beginning to stare.  
  
"Well, you certainly did a good job of indicating it, savvy?"  
  
She breathed out slowly, clearly trying to control her temper. "Jack, what do you say to a new topic of discussion?"  
  
"Aye, what do you suggest?" He inquired stubbornly.  
  
"How about this suggestion?" She paused as a smile began to creep across her face. "You take me on this little journey of yours..."  
  
"He paused as this proposition registered slowly in his brain. He squinted a little, then looked at her. "No." He smiled.  
  
"Can I ask why?" she questioned patiently.  
  
"Because, for one, it's dangerous and, for quite another, you don't know the first thing about piracy."  
  
She raised her eyebrows in disbelief. "That's all you can think of?"  
  
Jack nodded. "Well, it's enough, isn't it?" He grinned triumphantly.  
  
"Not even." She smiled as she watched the grin vanish instantly from Jack's face.  
  
"Do I dare ask why?"  
  
"I have two reasons that neutralize the two you gave me, and one that should change your mind completely."  
  
"And these might be...?" jack asked skeptically.  
  
"One: Do you honestly think I'm afraid of a little danger? Two: I know a lot more about piracy than you think. And three: Will Turner."  
  
Jack froze. "What about him?"  
  
Jessi smiled, knowing she had finally won. "He's my cousin."  
  
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~ 


	10. His Doubts Confirmed

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~  
  
Jack laughed doubtfully. "No. That was a nice try, but you forget one thing, and that would be the fact that Bootstrap didn't have any siblings." He smiled.  
  
"Ah, no, that's just what you and everyone else who knew him thought. But, you see, Jack... He had a brother."  
  
"No, he didn't." Jack laughed nervously, hardly daring to believe his ears.  
  
She smiled. "Yes, he did. My father-Samuel Turner. He was more commonly referred to as Sam."  
  
Jack had stopped pretending altogether now. He could tell Jessi was telling the truth.  
  
"Bootstrap is my uncle, Jack. You wonder why I never told you my last name? I'm a Turner. I figured you may have known him and made the connection."  
  
"You figured right, lass..." Jack paused. "Hang on, now. Why aren't you a pirate as well?"  
  
She paused and laughed sarcastically after a moment. "See, while William was a brave, adventurous man, my father was a pompous, cowardly moron, who wanted absolutely nothing to do with pirates... Probably why Bootstrap never mentioned him. So he moved here and met my mother, who died while giving birth to me. My dear old dad died when I was about twelve. He died from a, um..." She eyed Jack warily. "From an alcohol overdose..."  
  
Jack glanced at her sharply. "And you work at a bar..."  
  
She shrugged. "If it wasn't for the drink, my good-for-nothing father would still be here, and who knows? I might feel the same way about pirates he did."  
  
"And just how do you feel about pirates, Jessi?" He smiled.  
  
She sighed. "Okay, I'll say it. Some of them are black-hearted scoundrels who take joy in killing and stealing. But others... Well, they can be quite wonderful..." She looked at Jack, blushing a little.  
  
The captain didn't take the hint. "Aye, but we black-hearted pirates are, by far, the most fun." He grinned and took a large swig of rum. "So, why is it that you want to come, exactly?"  
  
"Well, look at this place. I've lived here my entire life. Do you really need any more reason than that?"  
  
"Nah, that's good." Jack smiled. "But, I'm afraid without dear William's consent, you're still not coming."  
  
"His consent, Jack?" She said, shocked. "He hardly even knows me! I doubt he's even seen me that he can remember!"  
  
"Ah, now that might be a problem..." said Jack.  
  
"And why is that?"  
  
"You see, he's not one to trust people without cause."  
  
"And that's why you're going to give him cause..."  
  
Jack paused.  
  
Jessi merely smiled back at him. "Savvy?"  
  
At this, a grin spread across Jack's face. "Aye, lass... Savvy."  
  
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~ 


	11. A Skeptical Captain

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~  
  
About two and a half weeks later, Will arrived. Jack had never been happier to see him.  
  
"All right, mate, here it is. We commandeer the ship, go in search of the Pearl, get rid of my lousy crew, find me a new one, then you go home and live a life of complete solitude with dear Elizabeth, never bothered by me again. Savvy?" He grinned.  
  
Will stared at him for a moment. "Nice to see you, too, Jack. How about we discuss your proposition over a drink?" Will smiled.  
  
"Or we could do that..." added Jack, smiling weakly.  
  
After getting to the bar, Jack realized he had yet to tell Will about Jessi.  
  
"Oh, Will, by the way-"  
  
"Jessi...?" A perplexed Will was now looking past Jack to the pretty young bartender.  
  
The captain looked behind him to see Jessi standing there, smiling at Will.  
  
"Hello, William."  
  
"I thought you said he wouldn't remember you." said Jack, confused.  
  
"Apparently, I was wrong..." said Jessi, also looking slightly bewildered.  
  
A grin spread across Will's face. "Of course I remember you!"  
  
"Yeah, I can see why. After all, you were a whopping two years old when you saw me last." Jessi laughed a little.  
  
"You look just the same..." marveled Will.  
  
"I look like a twelve-year-old?"  
  
Will rolled his eyes. "You know what I meant."  
  
"So..." She looked at Jack. "I guess Jack has told you all the details, huh?"  
  
"Uh..." Will paused. "No."  
  
He looked to Jack, who smiled sheepishly. "Funny thing, that... How letters explain so little..."  
  
With that, he plunged into his story from day one, finally ending up at their current situation.  
  
"So that's it, then?" asked Will. "I get nothing out of this?"  
  
Jack resisted the urge to punch Will and smiled reluctantly. "Except the satisfaction of knowing that you helped me."  
  
"And that's supposed to give me incentive for doing this?"  
  
"Dear, dear William..." said Jack sarcastically, placing a hand on the young blacksmith's shoulder. "Have we been so quick to forget the time I helped you rescue your little girlfriend?"  
  
"No. In fact, I think you've been the forgetful one."  
  
"Forgetful? How do you mean?" asked Jack truthfully.  
  
"When I, oh... Sprung you from jail and then saved you from being hanged?" Will smiled.  
  
"Yes, but you also have to realize that, had it not been for you, I wouldn't have been in those situations in the first place. So, in truth, it seems that you still owe me quite a deal."  
  
Will stopped smiling upon hearing this and looked to Jessi in his desperation.  
  
"Don't look at me." she said. "I'm on Jack's side."  
  
Jack's eyes darted over to Jessi and he smiled a little. Looking back to Will he asked, "So, what'll it be, mate?"  
  
Will sighed. "I don't really have a choice, do I?"  
  
Jack pretended to ponder this. "No, not really..."  
  
Will laughed. "Okay, fine, I'll help."  
  
"Didn't we just establish that you have no choice?" Jack decided to confirm this item of redundancy.  
  
"I said I would help, okay?" Will answered, starting to get slightly annoyed. He looked at Jessi. "Why exactly are you here, anyway?"  
  
Jessi didn't answer and a bit of an awkward silence ensued.  
  
The Captain was thoroughly confused. Hadn't he and Jessi already had this conversation in advance? "Jessi? What's wrong?" Jack looked up at her.  
  
She forced a smile and avoided Will's eyes. "Um... Will? Do you remember how we met?"  
  
"Well, yeah!" Will answered blatantly. "I was with you for over a year, after all, how could I forget it?"  
  
"Ah..." Jessi paused and noticed the odd look on Jack's face. "It's nothing." she assured him. He continued to stare at her, giving her the odd sensation that he could see through her lies.  
  
"Well, we can talk about nothing later..." said Will, breaking the awkwardness between the three of them.  
  
"Yes, we can!" interjected Jessi once more. "So, Will... The thing is, I'm, uh... I'll be coming with you..."  
  
Will paused. "Why?"  
  
"Because... I want to get out of this town." She tried to ignore Jack's frequent glares directed toward her.  
  
"Hmm..." Will looked at Jack, who merely ignored him, meticulously scanning Jessi's eyes for the hidden story she had failed to tell him. "What do you think, Jack?"  
  
"I think we need a little more information on this lass, don't you, mate?"  
  
"It's not information I'm worried about, Jack, it's her welfare."  
  
"Will, you hardly even know me!" Jessi blurted out.  
  
"Jessi, you took care of me for over a year! You were my only family- "  
  
"What does that mean?" interrupted Jack suspiciously.  
  
"It means nothing, Jack, now can I come with you or not?" Jessi was getting touchy and Jack didn't dare question her motives.  
  
"Fine! You can come, but we're going to have a talk later!"  
  
Jessi laughed sarcastically. "Okay, Jack, fine, we'll have you're bloody talk. What will we talk about, rum?"  
  
Jack could tell that she didn't mean anything by it, but it still hurt. He'd had concern for her well-being. He only wanted to know her better, and yet she hid things from him that obviously proved to be somewhat relevant in their present situation.  
  
"Yeah. We'll talk about rum. After all, I care about nothing else."  
  
He glared at her and stood up quickly, almost loosing his balance, but regaining it as he walked briskly out the doors of the bar, without even realizing that this hurt Jessi more than she had hurt him.  
  
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~ 


	12. Of Awkwardness and Drunken Fathers

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~  
  
The commandeering of the ship was actually a fairly easy process. Though the security was tight, Jack had the wits and the style to get them all onto the ship without much of a fuss. With four people, it enabled them to be in numerous places at once.  
  
So it was late the next night that Jack found himself in a very awkward situation with Anamaria on the bow of the ship, talking of past adventures and things of that particular nature.  
  
Anamaria sighed. "Jack, do you ever find yourself wondering what would have happened had you chosen a different path?"  
  
"What, you mean apart from piracy?" He looked appalled.  
  
"Yeah, I mean... What do you think things would be like if I had chosen to be a maid in some wealthy nobleman's household rather than to become a pirate?"  
  
"Well..." Jack pondered this for a moment and then smiled a little. "I doubt the crew would ever be the same."  
  
Anamaria grinned. "What about you? Do you think you ever could have done anything else with yourself?"  
  
Jack sighed, thinking about it for the very first time. "You know... I think I could have been a rather good father..."  
  
This struck Anamaria as being totally bizarre. "I meant as an occupation, Jack."  
  
"Well, it almost is, Annie, you know. I mean, you have to spend time with the children, savvy? Otherwise, they would grow up to be like me... Wait... Scratch that..." Jack rubbed his forehead in deep thought and closed his eyes. "I need to lay off the rum, it ruins my train of thought." He waved his hands around, searching for words. "Annie, it's not so much that I like children just as... I don't know..." He finished lamely, thinking the better of what he was about to say as he turned away from her.  
  
"No, come on, you've already dug yourself into this hole, now you have to talk your way out." She smiled a little. This was the first time she'd ever had a really deep conversation with the man that she loved.  
  
Jack looked at the silvery-white full moon, hidden partially behind the gray clouds, sending rays of light shimmering in random areas on the surface of the glistening ocean. "I just feel that if I could have someone to protect, I could... Well, you know, protect them. I could do things for them that I wouldn't do for my acquaintances, or even for you and the rest of the crew. Something totally out of character for me... Something... Something..." Jack paused, trying to think of words to explain what he was thinking.  
  
"Something that only love could trigger..." Anamaria was looking out over the ocean as well, her deep brown eyes penetrating the water and looking beneath it, where an unprecedented desire for serenity and peacefulness struck her like a gong.  
  
"That what?" Jack asked, looking at her sharply.  
  
She looked at him. "That only love can trigger. I doubt the world could turn on its own, without love. So, I figure if it could power something that great... Why couldn't it motivate us to do something good with ourselves? I think that's why we pirates end up the way that we do- fiendish and greedy. We give and receive no love and so we have nothing to motivate us to do good things. So I suppose we just... Take what we can, and give nothing back..." She laughed weakly, in an ironic, bittersweet sort of way.  
  
He looked at her for a moment, thinking about the meaning of this... Thinking about the tattered sails of the Pearl and why they made him feel so overjoyed... Thinking about Jessi...  
  
He stared down at the scintillating blue-green water. He turned his back to the ocean and looked up to the sky, the stars and the moon providing an abundance of light now that the dismal clouds had shifted to a different area of the pitch black sky.  
  
"One more thing, Annie..." She looked at him as he heaved a deep sigh, then continued. "Love motivates us to do great things, aye?"  
"Aye." she answered a bit confused.  
  
"Aye..." He repeated, seemingly to himself. "Then I have another question." She waited anxiously. He proceeded. "Can we be motivated by love if we don't know how to recognize it?"  
  
She merely looked at him for a moment, a blank expression filling her soft, beautiful features. "Jack... You know I can't answer that question for you..."  
  
He looked at his feet. "Aye..." He laughed a little. "I know, lass..."  
  
She looked at him, a kind of pain in her eyes.  
  
He returned her gaze. "You've helped me, regardless of whether you think you did or not."  
  
"Jack-"  
  
"Sleep well, Annie..." He walked away to his quarters before she could say another word.  
  
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~  
  
The next morning, Jack woke up, but didn't go through his usual routine of sitting straight up and taking a large swig of rum. Instead, he laid in his bed, his head facing the ceiling, breathing in the moist air from the sea, and thinking about where he'd gone wrong in his life that he'd driven himself to a life of piracy.  
  
He sighed and began to sing softly, in a rather melancholy voice, under his breath. "We're devils and black sheep and really bad eggs... Drink up me hearties, yo ho... Aye, that's all we are, us pirates... Drunken, murderous thieves..." He sat up and took a glance to his right. There sat his rum as it usually did. "Maybe Jessi was right about us. Maybe we are just black-hearted scoundrels who take joy in killing and stealing..."  
  
He heaved a large sigh and decided that, regardless of whether he could change Jessi's mind about pirates, he was at least going to try to pry some information out of her.  
  
He found her leaning on the starboard side of the ship, a map clutched in her hands, her eyes scanning it meticulously.  
  
He put a hand on her shoulder to let her acknowledge that he was there and she jumped, crumpling the map up quickly in her hands. She turned to look at him as she did this and gave him a forced smile.  
  
"What was that?" asked Jack, trying to take the map but failing when Jessi pulled it out of his reach.  
  
"A map... I was just..." She paused. "I was looking for possible paths your crew might have taken."  
  
He smiled at her. "Ah... Well, I appreciate the effort, but it really isn't necessary. You can leave the tracking to me. The Pearl travels in rightfully peculiar ways and, being its rightful captain, only I rightfully know its rightful path. Savvy?"  
  
She nodded slightly, still trying to smile. "Um, Jack... I'm sorry about what I said in the bar a couple days ago. I know there's more to you than that, I really do."  
  
He returned her forced smile and shrugged. "Aye, well... Well, yeah..." He cleared his throat and kept back what he really wanted to say, knowing it would lead only to further confrontation. "Um, I actually came to talk to you about what happened with you and Will." He let her continue from where he had begun.  
  
She sighed and looked at him for a moment. "All right, so I knew Will for a couple years-"  
  
"A couple?" asked Jack. "He said it was only one!"  
  
"Do you want to hear this or not?" Jack silenced himself as she continued. "I knew him for about two years, Will doesn't remember well because he was only two years old. I, however, was twelve years old and happen to have quite a decent memory of what went on.  
  
"Well, when my father died, I'll admit I had nowhere to go. So I stayed on the streets for a couple months. Meanwhile, Will had also been orphaned. His mother had just died, but she had been expected to not make it through the pneumonia that she had anyway. In advance, she told the orphanage of Bootstrap's brother, Sam, and his only child-me.  
  
"Anyway, the orphanage tracked me down and found out that my father was dead. So they put us both in an orphanage. I was adopted, but Will stayed. I got to know him fairly well the two years I was there."  
  
"I thought he was only two..." Jack prompted, confused.  
  
"Two-year-olds have personalities!" Jessi defended her cousin. "Anyway, from what I heard, Will ran away when he was about nine and stowed away on a cargo boat to look for his father. And... Well, I suppose you know the rest of what happened from there..."  
  
"That's it, then?" asked Jack.  
  
"Well... Yes, I suppose that's it." Jessi nodded, smiling.  
  
"Oh... Well, then... Please continue with... Well, with whatever you were doing... I thought you might have something important to say."  
  
Jessi opened her mouth in protest.  
  
"I didn't mean it that way, Jessi."  
  
She smiled and laughed a little. "I know, Jack... You never do..."  
  
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~ 


	13. Of Broken Hearts and Broken Captains

~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~  
  
Lying on his back on the deck of the ship, the sun drying his wet clothes, Captain Jack Sparrow was deep in thought. He'd arisen early that morning and taken a swim in the icy waters that they sailed on, thinking about various things. The water had cleared his head from the previous night.  
  
After talking with Jessi, he'd immediately retreated to his quarters and drunk an entire bottle of rum. Even for an alcoholic, this was quite a bit, and he'd immediately passed out after drowning his muddled thoughts in his favorite drink.  
  
Of course, he'd woken up with a terrible headache. But, after thinking about it for a couple moments, he realized that he was in the exact same situation that he was in the day he'd met Jessi. What had she really done with his life? She'd lost him his ship, for one, along with his crew. Second off, she'd forced him into the awkward situation that was between him and Anamaria. And, on top of that, she'd ensued a rather odd feeling in him.  
  
He would ponder things for hours at a time that he never would have given a second glance to before he met her. So now he found himself in the same situation he'd been in two and a half months before, only with an abundance of pain, physically and emotionally.  
  
"Jessi, what have you done to me, lass?" he asked the dead space above him, facing only the bluest of sky.  
  
"I don't know... What have I done to you?"  
  
Jack jumped and looked behind him to where the voice had come from. He smiled at the pretty bartender nervously and said, "Jessi, hi!"  
  
"You didn't answer my question." she said suspiciously. "What have I done to you?"  
  
He sat up straight and cleared his throat. "Um... I was just thinking a few things to myself. You know, about how you lost me my ship and all."  
  
"How I lost you your ship, huh?" asked Jessi, smiling a little.  
  
"Aye, how you lost me my ship." He nodded, totally unaware of whether she was believing him or not.  
  
"Ah... Well, I came to ask you something."  
  
"I'm listening."  
  
"I want to just let you know that I am sorry about everything that I've said and that I've kept from you."  
  
"Yes, well, I'm sorry as well, whatever it is that I've done to you..." He finished uncertainly, looking her directly in the eye.  
  
"Good... Because I really like you a whole lot better when we're friends."  
  
He nodded and smiled a little. "We're friends now, are we?"  
  
She merely grinned in return and looked at her feet. When she looked up, Jack was standing only a few feet in front of her. "Jack, I believe we were friends from the moment you set foot in that bar."  
  
He wasn't smiling anymore. He hadn't been smiling for quite a while now. He was outright confused. He looked deeply into Jessi's eyes. Could he really be in love? "Aye, lass, so do I..." was all he could come up with.  
  
"Jack?" she asked him warily.  
  
"Hmm?"  
  
"Are you all right?"  
  
"To tell you the truth, love, I'm not so sure..."  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"I... I don't know..." He smiled a little bit. There was the unnamed emotion again, though this time, he was quite sure that he knew what it was. After that talk with Anamaria, something had just clicked. And now every time he saw Jessi, he would ask himself the same question: 'If this is love, am I finally recognizing it for what it really is?'  
  
All his life he had refused to accept love given to him in any way, shape, or form. Now, everything in his heart and soul was thrusting him toward Jessi in a way that he couldn't explain. His brain wanted him to stay as far away from her as possible, but the other two forces overpowered it magnificently.  
  
"Jessi..." He reached for her face and touched her cheek gently with his hand, still looking into her eyes lovingly.  
  
Her eyes glanced over to his hand quickly, then back to him. She didn't seem to want to look him in the eye, but she was soon running out of places to avert her gaze to.  
  
Suddenly, she took his hand away from her face and looked at her feet. "Jack, you can't..."  
  
"What?" He looked at her, a little confused.  
  
"I mean... I'm not who you think I am..." She swallowed nervously.  
  
"Jessi, what do you...?"  
  
His voice faded into silence as she pulled the right sleeve of her shirt up, exposing a pirate brand.  
  
Jack looked at it for a moment. "Jessi, I... Why didn't you tell me?" He finished, confused and hurt.  
  
"Because, I didn't want to get involved with another pirate..." She was fighting back tears, her voice breaking a little.  
  
"But Jessi, I-" He paused. "Another pirate...?"  
  
She nodded, avoiding his eyes like the plague for, much like the plague, had she seen them, they would have killed her. "Tim Arlington... He was the first man I ever loved... He was also a pirate. We traveled together for several years and, right after he proposed... Well, there was a rebellion on the ship and, because Tim sided with the captain, the crew tied his hands together, gagged him, and strapped a fifty-pound bag of rocks to his feet... And they... Shoved him off the ship, into the ocean... I dove out after him, but couldn't find him in the deep waters, so I swam to the nearest island-Jaded Nook..." She sniffed and looked at Jack, tears streaming down her cheeks.  
  
Jack was on the verge of tears himself. "So... Why is it that you really wanted to come out here with me?" He feared the answer.  
  
"I just got a letter from him a couple weeks ago." She smiled through her tears, which made Jack want to cry even more. She proceeded. "He's told me that he's alive and living in Port Royal, so I came out here to look for him."  
  
He swallowed, trying to force a laugh. "So, that's it then?"  
  
The smiled faded from her face. "Jack, what do you mean?"  
  
"I mean, you used me and our friendship so you could go look for your boyfriend?" He felt a lump develop in the pit of his stomach and work its way up to his throat.  
  
Her mouth fell open in shock. "Jack, he meant everything to me, can't you even pretend to be happy-?"  
  
"I don't want to hear it, Jessi." He interrupted her bitterly. "You broke my heart, and that's not something I can accept an excuse for. Savvy?"  
  
Walking away, Jack felt the lump in his throat grow larger and larger. Finally, when he got to his room, he slammed the door behind him, locked it tightly, and pushed his back against it.  
  
This was the first time Jack had ever opened his heart to anyone. Difficult as it was to love, he then realized how much more difficult it was to find out that the love would not be returned.  
  
The handsome captain breathed deeply, carefully studying the sky he could see out of his window, trying not to think of what had just happened. Perhaps if he went to sleep, he would awake in a few hours to find it all had been a dream.  
  
However hard he tried, though, his thoughts stayed with Jessi. And however much he wanted to hate her for what she had done, he still envisioned her face the first time he'd seen it, smiling at him sweetly, her gaze never faltering from his. And he knew-he loved her. He loved her more than anything.  
  
What else could have driven him to the verge of tears? It all seemed so surreal-if only it truly was. He would be back to normal. Jessi would never have existed and he would still be the captain of his ship, not to mention the captain of his own heart.  
  
Jessi had taken a tight grip on it and wasn't letting go anytime soon. The only part of him that Jack had control over was his mind. That did him no good at all, considering the fact that it was drowned in rum most of the time, and when it wasn't, it was drowned with thoughts of Jessi.  
  
Yes, Jack was too far in to turn back now. So, he figured, the only thing left to do was to let go and accept the fact that he would always be in love with Jessi. There was only one flaw-she wasn't in love with him...  
  
~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~ 


	14. AUTHOR'S NOTE

Author's note:  
  
Whoa, this is the first author's note I've ever done, so forgive me if it becomes a bit lengthy!!! Anyway, I just wanted to point out a few things before I continue with this fan fiction. One: Thank you to all of you who are supporting me and giving me constructive criticism. Two: For those of you who are actually enjoying my story and genuinely want me to update, I'm sorry this has taken me such a long time. Three: Although I may be a mere 15 years old, I do indeed get writer's block and lately I've lacked the inspiration, energy, or indeed the time to make any additions to my fan fiction.  
  
Once again, thank you for your patience! All I ask is that you keep reading and reviewing as often as possible. 


End file.
